Saturday, January 26, 2008

Pitt just took a time out because Chandler just hit a 3 to tie it up at 27 with 5:16 left in the first half. We are shooting the lights out, just missed a dunk. God I hope this continues like this. Offensive foul on Pitt....I'll be back at halftime.

At 6 PM tonight on ESPN Classic, the Knights face the 17th ranked Pitt Panthers at the Petersen Events Center, where the Panthers are 91-8 all time. This will be an extremely tough test for our Knights, coming off of a shocking upset win at the RAC defeating Villanova 80-68. While I'm not sure if it was more Rutgers playing well than Villanova playing poorly, I do know that all that mattered was the conference win we got that we desperately needed. That being said, as well as Coburn and Farmer have been playing, with Coburn scoring 23 to lead the team against Villanova, I don't see them stopping Pittsburgh. It will be closer than people think, but I like Pitt 68-54. Guard Levance Fields is still out for the Panthers, but for this game to even be close, the entire Rutgers team needs to show up. Yes, that means you, JR Inman, who refuses to play defense from time to time. If UConn can go into Indiana and hold a 5-6 point lead for the majority of the game (they lead 42-37 with 10:00 left), than we can go into Petersen and keep it semi-close. The horrendous conference season continues, as I see Rutgers falling to Pitt by around 15 points.

Starting with todays game at Pittsburgh, We at Beat Visitor will be giving the occasional basketball report as to stay updated. While they may be few and far between, this still remains mainly a football information center for Scarlet Knights both past and present. Go Knights!

Friday, January 11, 2008

In the 2007 Season Notebook that appeared on ScarletKnights.com today, this nugget of information about the Knights' balanced offense appeared:

The 2007 Scarlet Knights are the first team in NCAA history to have a 3,000-yard passer, 2,000-yard rusher and a pair of 1,000-yard receivers in the same season.Rutgers, 2007Mike Teel (3,147 passer)Ray Rice (2,012 rusher)Kenny Britt (1,232 receiver)Tiquan Underwood (1,100 receiver)

That sounds impressive enough, but I was thinking that there must have been at least one 3,000-yard passer / 2,000-yard rusher combo in the history of the NCAA, but no:

Only two other teams in NCAA history have had a 2,000-yard passer, 2,000-yard rusher and one 1,000-yard receiver.[emphasis added]

It's interesting to see that it's a once-a-decade occurrence, usually with a star running back leading the way. Here's hoping that the Teel/Britt/Underwood airshow can keep defenses honest and open some running lanes for Kordell Young and Mason Robinson (and others) in 2008.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Now I don't mind choppin' woodAnd I don't care if the money's no goodYou take what you need and you leave the restBut they should never have taken the very best.

from"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"by Robbie Robertson

This song appears prominently in the February 2008 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine. Eerily appropriate today, isn't it, as the very best Scarlet Knight leaves for the NFL and leaves the wood chopping to the rest of our very talented players?Good Luck Ray,and Go Knights!

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Ray Rice, by declaring for the NFL draft as a junior, is the first player in the Greg Schiano era to leave Rutgers before his senior year, but who can really blame him? Will he ever have a better college game than the one that we had the absolute pleasure of watching up in Toronto on Saturday afternoon? Should he really risk missing his big payday because of a possible injury? Of course not. But we'll still miss him.

Monday, January 7, 2008

The luck of the draw put our seats right behind the spot where Ray Rice took the bench after every offensive series. I love the snapshot up above. Right after halftime, number 27 went straight to the exercise bike behind the offensive bench and was pedaling as the Knights and the Cardinals lined up on the International Bowl logo for the second-half kickoff. His focus and his extra time on his conditioning paid off very early in the third quarter when the Knights started their first second-half possession on their own 2 yard line and Ray single-handedly picked up the missing 98 yards in three runs; the third a gaudy 90-yard sprint that took every bit of his talent and conditioning.

It was a pleasure to be in Toronto to see the Scarlet Knights win 52-30.

It was a pleasure to see Ray Rice topple Rutgers and Big East records with almost every run.

It was a pleasure to be in Toronto. Period.

I just flew back this afternoon. Postgame highlights included trips to the Hockey Hall of Fame, to Niagara Falls, and nightly visits to a great local downtown pub. I hope that the International Bowl continues to draw bigger crowds and survives as the only game outside the US (and not only because the drinking age is 19 in Ontario). It's a wonderful city. I'd like to see the Knights make it to a bigger bowl next year, but if not, I'd go back north in a shot (and not just because O Canada is a much better song than The Star Spangled Banner).

And, as we all chanted after each of Ray's four touchdowns on Saturday afternoon until we were hoarse, "One More Year! One More Year!"

Friday, January 4, 2008

. . . and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are dressed in scarlet in honor or our Knights' arrival!

I'm not going to be flying into the Great White North until tomorrow morning. I'd love to be up there right now, but I'll stay for a day and a half after the game instead to see the CN Tower, the Hockey Hall of Fame, and some of these guys in red with the Smokey-the-Bear hats. You're supposed to tease them and tickle them and try to make them smile, right? Or is that the tradition in some other English-speaking nation with men in red wearing funny hats?

The thing I love about the International Bowl the most (so far) is its lack of corporate sponsorship. Canada will be around long after Tostitos and FedEx and GMAC and PapaJohnsDotCom are long forgotten (unless, of course, Cartman's Mom finally gets her way, eh?).

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Between 6-8 points were simply given to the Sooners by the refs so far tonight (or maybe sold to the Oklahomans by an otherwise underpaid officiating staff). The first field goal attempt was the product of a bullshit 30-yard late hit/unsportsmanlike penalty, and their third field-goal attempt was only possible because the refs would not or could not see a hold on Dingle that was called by every fan in the stands and every pro-Oklahoma man in the broadcast booth. That was immediately followed by the safety that turned into a touchback for the Okies (and then their first touchdown).

Go Mountaineers! The entire Big East is rooting for you in your quest to beat the 16 or 17 men on the field who are playing against you in the Fiesta Bowl right now (it's great to be an unaffiliated blogger, not only can you call a bullshit call a bullshit call, but you don't have to mention the brand name of the pseudo-Mexican obesity-inducing corn chips that are part of the Fiesta Bowl's official name). As I write this, Noel Devine just made it 27-15 (but really 27-9 at the most). Show no mercy. Go for the jugular! Go Mountaineers!Go Big East!

Update with 9:21 left: As I was adding the photo, the refs gave the Okies another TD with a 30-yard "pass interference/personal foul" penalty to make it 41-28, and Noel Devine responded with another long (non-referee-assisted) touchdown run to make it 48-28. Even the zebras must be starting to give up hope at this point.

Will his first post-strike Top Ten List® be a list of reasons that his alma mater's football team, the Speedy Cardinals, will lose the International Bowl to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Saturday afternoon?